1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the manufacture of lead acid storage batteries and more particularly to method and apparatus for casting straps and terminals on lugs of battery plates.
2. Prior Art
A cast-on method of forming straps to battery plates is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,652,337. A number of alternately spaced positively and negatively plates with separators there between form a cell group which ultimately forms one cell of the finished battery. The lugs of the plate within the cell group form two rows of lugs, a positive row and a negative row. These lugs are cleaned, coated with a lead alloy melt and then rapidly transferred to a plate strap casting station where the lugs are emersed into a mold filled with molten-strap-forming material, typically lead. This patent does not treat the formation of battery terminals for which will require an additional technique and the utilization of a production station.
One apparatus, while widely used for accomplishing the task of communing the battery lugs within each stack is the Farmer Cast-On-Strap (C.O.S.) Machine. The Farmer machine is adapted to produce, in a single cycle, a plurality of finally assembled stacks sufficient to make up one battery. The strap casting operation is done within the C.O.S. apparatus by holding the stacks in a rectangular-multi-celled device commonly referred to as a basket, while the straps are cast onto the lugs. After the casting process the stacks must be removed from the basket and inserted into compartments of a battery case. A problem with the C.O.S. procedure is the fragility of the lead sulfate paste. With any degree of rough handling, fragments of it will break free. Therefore, extreme care must be exercised in moving the cast-on battery plates from the basket to the battery case compartment which must be exercised with care and therefore is time consuming and materially adds to the costs of battery manufacture.